influence

I sometimes wonder at the mechanism that allows congress to believe that i am naive enough to think that the bailout plan they're considering is something they're doing to preserve my wellbeing...while the plan has "vauge reassurances for homeowners" the reassurances for wealth are concrete. no doubt some people who find themselves in financial difficulties over mortgages they could not really afford are there because of their own choices...they are the ones who signed the papers...but the idea of living within one's means is a difficult one to support in a society where all the media is a sales tool and desires are engineered. there are, unfortunately. entire university departments devoted to the intricacies of convincing people that superfluous material goods are the stuff of life, and that feelings of sadness, inadequacy, or loneliness can only be relieved by the act of buying something. living within your means, making do, ignoring the incessant clamoring of the consumerist utopia may lead you to find a self-reliance and resillency that would not do corporate cash flow any good. I'm not trying to excuse myself from this ( in general there are few foibles or weaknesses i can excuse myself from...i am capable of recognizing them in myself however, and that is the first step to recovery)...i struggle with the consumerist imperative too...i've learned to turn off the television and the radio...but advertizing and the subtle (and not so subtle) psychological manipulation still find their way to me. television may be the advertizer's main weapon, but i'm stunned by all that there is outside it. it pervades this life...just walk down the street...why are the urban and suburban landscape so ugly? let's start with the "golden arches" and work our way back to our(or at least my) discontent...it may not be inescapable, but you almost have to be culturally illiterate to avoid it. advertizing and the consumption it implies are the bedrock of this society...we all need material goods to survive...are rolex watches and cadallac espalades necessities or manifestations of peoples need to prove they exist by validating the imperative?